Government Corruption

Guess Who Obama Is Grooming For 2020?

Guess Who Obama Is Grooming For 2020?

Conservatives are weighing the potential Presidential 2020 candidates, from former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, even Hillary Clinton could be putting her name in for a “Hail Mary” third shot. But ask former President Barack Obama who he’d like to see go for it in 2020, and you’ll learn he desires his old friend and fellow former Chicago resident, ex-Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

The liberal website Politico is obsessing over Deval, pointing out many in Obama’s inner circle, including political strategist David Axelrod, advisor Valerie Jarrett and former political director David Simas have high hopes for a Patrick candidacy. Axelrod believes Patrick’s small-town campaign experience combined with the proximity of second-primary-in-the-nation state New Hampshire, along with his minority status all are selling points. Jarrett saying “President Patrick” is what “her heart desires,” and one former White House aide claims:

“If you were to poll 100 notable Obama alumni, the only two people who would win that 2020 straw poll right now are Joe Biden and Deval Patrick.”

But the big question is if Patrick really has that desire to run. Patrick’s present workplace is that of Mitt Romney’s-founded Bain Capital, where Patrick is a managing director of the equity firm. In a recent interview, Patrick said:

“I’m trying to think about how to be helpful because I care about the country, and I’m a patriot first. It’s way, way too soon to be making plans for 2020. So I’ll just leave it at that… Don’t lead me down that path because it turns into something it isn’t, and I don’t want to go there. I have no plans to make plans.”

Given that 2018 is only 5-months away, and candidacies are typically announced at least 16-months in advance of Election Day, the clock is ticking on whether or not Patrick will make the kinds of preparations that other candidates like Biden, Holder, and others have been making, like trips to early primary states, speeches to academic and public policy groups and heightened press attention.

When Patrick left the Massachusetts Governor’s office 2-years ago, there was a rumor that he might have been in contention to be Hillary Clinton’s Presidential running mate in 2016. There was also the possibility that he might have been nominated to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by former Justice Antonin Scalia.

The Politico article also details that Patrick is no fan of President Trump, with Patrick saying:

“The president, I believe, is at risk of diminishing the voice of the presidency because he pops off so often, and so, kind of, carelessly. I think there’s a risk both domestically and internationally, for that matter, that we’ll begin to tune him out.”

Patrick says in his current role at Bain Capital, he’s helping to raise nearly half a billion dollars for companies that focus on “sustainability, health and wellness and a place-based strategy called ‘community building,’ which is about companies that are intentional about creating good jobs and economic activity in places of chronic underemployment.” Even though this sounds like the Trump administration, for now, these firms include a chain of gyms in Indiana and Michigan that will bring “affordable fitness” to various “underserved areas” as well as a Texas company that reroutes “organic waste.”

Patrick served as a surrogate for President Obama on the campaign trail in 2012 and as far back as 2008. Patrick is six years Obama’s senior – both Harvard Law School graduates – and in 2006, Obama was accused of plagiarizing Patrick’s graduate’s speeches to Massachusetts voters in 2006. Patrick later explained the controversy by saying he had “encouraged” Obama to make use of the remarks, but discussions between the two are unknown. But the pair have a decades-long association, having both rubbed elbows with prominent Democrats, including the Clintons. Patrick was appointed by ex-President Clinton as a U.S. Assistant Attorney General working on civil rights issues, which included police misconduct, racial profiling and the treatment of incarcerated criminals.

During Patrick’s first attempt for Massachusetts Governor, he was met by criticism in that he corresponded and promoted the parole of criminal Benjamin LaGuer, who was convicted of a brutal rape that happened over the course of 8-hours. Patrick called his conversations with LaGuer “thoughtful, insightful, eloquent [and] humane.” Former Democratic Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis termed Patrick’s race “the dirtiest gubernatorial campaign in my memory.”

Patrick was a top recipient of donations from casino lobbying groups as Massachusetts Governor, led by the local Wampanoag Indian tribe that President Trump has had run-ins with in the past. President Trump has claimed that many tribal groups running casinos, including the Wampanoags, have fallen under the extreme influence of organized crime. Many Indian casino properties do not have to pay business taxes, and ultimately under Patrick, 3 resort-style gambling casinos were legalized in Massachusetts along with 2-slot parlors.

The Boston Herald reported in 2015 Patrick’s gubernatorial administration created a $37 million slush fund to pay for advertising contracts, trade junkets and the promotion of tourism ventures, where some of those were backed by then-Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. But, a week later, the Boston Globe quoted Massachusetts State Representative David Linsky, chairman of the state Post-Audit and Oversight Committee who claiming that the funds were permitted by state budget rules.

A year earlier, Patrick was involved in another controversy for firing of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Chairwoman Saundra Edwards and the placing of Director Jeanne Holmes on administrative leave for forcing Patrick’s brother-in-law Bernard Sigh (who spent time in jail) to register as a sex offender for the rape of his wife, Patrick’s sister Rhonda. Patrick tried to make the claim that the case of his brother-in-law was a “private matter,” but the fact that Sigh was convicted in court makes it a public one.

Massachusetts has quite the history of corrupt politics, like former State Senator President William Bulger, who was the brother of notorious gangster and killer James “Whitey” Bulger – the inspiration for the villains of the films “Black Mass” and “The Departed.” Scandals like the ones illustrated above could be the tip of the iceberg for Patrick. But only time will tell if Patrick chooses to follow in the footsteps of Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney. Here’s hoping he has the same luck Romney did.

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